Launch of Microsoft's motion-sensing controller appears to be damaging demand for rival games consoles including Wii
Microsoft's motion-sensing Kinect controller will push pre-Christmas sales of the Xbox ahead of rivals, including the Nintendo Wii, according to one forecast.
The Wii, which became the fastest-selling games console in history when launched in the UK four years ago today, is losing ground to the Kinect, which does away with the need for a traditional hand-held controller.
Europe's leading high street retailer of video games, Game Group, today said the Kinect has been a "big hit" in its Game and Gamestation stores since going on sale last month. Tesco yesterday said the Kinect had been "flying off the shelves" since its launch, and that it would be a top-seller this Christmas.
Ian Shepherd, the Game Group chief executive, declined to say whether Kinect had helped sales of Microsoft's Xbox to overtake those of Nintendo ? but some analysts believe that has already happened in the US, where it launched one week earlier.
Analysts at Wedbush Morgan Securities this week said sales of Xbox 360 consoles would reach 1m in November, up 31% on last year, while sales of the Wii are expected to reach 975,000, down 23% in the same period.
Sales of Sony's PS3, which launched its cordless Move handset this autumn, will be down 8% year on year to 650,000, the analysts predict.
Unlike the Wii and Move, Kinect uses an infrared emitter and camera, rather than a hand-held controller, to track gamers' movements. The Wii stole a march when it used the first wireless handset in 2006.
The Kinect camera sensor was initially sold as an add-on for Xbox consoles, but is bundled with the newer Xbox 360 at a discounted price.
"We expect strong demand for the Xbox 360 due to the successful debut for Kinect, and believe that Kinect console bundles sold especially well," Wedbush Morgan Securities said.
Nintendo, which is without a new product in the pre-Christmas market this year, is placing its bets on the yet-to-be-launched 3DS, a handheld 3D gaming device. The company earlier this year predicted that profit would fall to its lowest in five years for the year to March 2011.
Microsoft last week said it had sold more than 2.5m Kinect systems worldwide in the four weeks that it had been on sale. Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft's Xbox business, said the company was "on pace" to sell 5m units before Christmas. Sony's Move has shipped 4.1m units worldwide since its autumn launch.
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